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Product/Link:
Epson Perfection 3200 Photo Scanner
Synopsis: This scanner offers premium quality scanning and the ability to handle virtually any photography application.
Requirements: PC with Pentium equivalent or higher, 100 MB hard disk space, USB or Firewire, CD ROM, 128MB RAM. iMac or any G3 or G4 with built-in USB.
Price: $399.00. A $100.00 rebate is currently available.
Rating: If you have negatives, slides, or even larger format images you want to digitize this could be your reasonably priced solution.
Comment:
As a longtime photography enthusiast I've collected hundreds, nay thousands of slides and black and white negatives. Until this scanner came on the market I felt I only had two choices if I wanted to digitize my collection.
Epson 3200 scan.
Photo store scan.
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I could take my images to the local photo shop and have them do it or I could purchase a very expensive photo scanner. The Epson 3200 gave me a third option. For $300.00 after rebate I could try it myself.
Although this scanner is good for doing all the other things that typical flatbed scanners do my real interest was in getting quality prints from scanning various old negatives, prints and transparencies.
Setting up isn't real quick. First you have to unpack the scanner. Second, you have to install Adobe PhotoShop Elements, which is a great graphics program in and of itself. Then you need to install SilverFast another scanning program, plus the Epson scanner software. Lastly, connect the scanner itself.
For this review we'll just be discussing the Epson scanning software. To start, place your selection(film or print)on the scanner bed, then open PhotoShop Elements. Click on "File," "Import," and "Epson Perfection 3200..." The scanning software provides you with three options: Full Auto Mode, Home Mode and Professional Mode. Home and Professional mode allow you more control over the scanning process.
To scan a color slide at 3200 dpi takes two minutes. I saved the resulting image in tif format to avoid any compression. The resulting image was 34MB and 4155X2866 pixels in size.
Since there is a lot to learn about this scanner I suggest you follow up this review with a visit to a more in-depth study. For me the real question is: Can I scan my old slides and negatives and then print them so that they have enough quality to be framed and hung on the wall? The answer is a qualified yes. The qualifications are as follows: You'll have to start with a very clean original, otherwise you'll be spending a great deal of time attempting to rid yourself of dust spots.
(Note: For $450.00 Epson sells the 4870 scanner with built-in Digital Ice. This is a hardware software combination that cleans up scans during the actual scanning.)
Secondly, after scanning you'll need to use PhotoShop Elements to bring your images up to grade. Although it's not as time consuming as it sounds you'll need to do some color correction, image sharpening, as well as adjusting the brightness and contrast.
I've compared slides scanned by both the Epson 3200 and my local camera shop. Results are shown above and below...
Scanned on Epson 3200.
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Photo store scan at $2.00 each.
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The Epson scans aren't as bad as they're depicted here. Remember these images are blown up. When printed at 5"X7" the difference is noticeable but you have to look pretty hard. So unless you're very picky or are willing to spend hundreds of dollars more I think the Epson 3200 can meet your needs.
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